20th May, 2019
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.01 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2019.
The NBS said this in its “Nigeria GDP Report for First Quarter 2019’’ released on Monday in Abuja.
According to the NBS, the figure is 0.12 per cent higher than the growth rate of 1.89 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2018.
It, however, said the figure, relative to the fourth quarter 2018, showed a decline by -0.38 per cent points.
According to the bureau, the strong performance recorded in the quarter may be due to general elections held within the first quarter of 2019.
It said the aggregate GDP stood at N31,79 million in nominal terms.
The bureau said the figure was higher than N28,43 million recorded in the first quarter of 2018, representing a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 11.80 per cent.
According to the NBS, the aggregate is, however, lower than the preceding quarter of N35,23 million by -9.75 per cent.
It said the nominal GDP growth rate in the first quarter was also higher than the rate recorded in the first quarter of 2018 by 2.54 per cent points.
The bureau said the Nigerian economy had been classified broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors.
Quarterly National Accounts (QNA) are an integrated system of macroeconomic accounts designed to describe the entire system of production in a nation on a quarterly basis.
They provide a picture of the current economic status of an economy on a more frequent basis than Annual National Accounts (ANA).
In providing a reasonable level of detailed information of the economy, QNA allows the government to regularly access, analyse and monitor economic developments.